Melanie Ruth Daiken (27 July 1945 - 25 June 2016) was an English composer and music educator. She was born in London, the daughter of a Canadian mother [1] and Leslie Daiken, a Russian-Jewish writer from Ireland. She began violin lessons at an early age, and studied piano and composition at the Royal Academy of Music, the University of Ghana, and the Paris Conservatoire with Yvonne Loriod and Olivier Messiaen. After completing her studies, she took a teaching position with the Royal Academy of Music and became Deputy Head of Composition in 1986.[2] [3]